Pinteresque Dialogue

Authors

  • Jadwiga Uchman University of Łódź

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1515/texmat-2017-0021

Keywords:

Pinter, “Betrayal”, pause, silence

Abstract

The expression “Pinteresque” describing the characteristic features of Harold Pinter’s artistic output, established its position as a literary critical denominator many years ago. The aim of this article is to analyze some of the specific aspects of the playwright’s use of language. On several occasions, the artist made comments pertaining to certain issues concerning communication. He rejected the idea of the alienation of language and promoted the concept of evasive communication, thus showing people’s unwillingness to communicate. He also spoke about two kinds of silence, the first referring to a situation where there is actual silence, when “no word is spoken,” and the second , when “a torrent of language is being employed” in order to cover the character’s “nakedness.” Accordingly, Pinter’s plays may, depending on their perspective, be treated as dramas of language or of silence. This led Peter Hall, Pinter’s favourite theatre director and also a close friend, to notice that in the playwright’s oeuvre there is a clear distinction beween three dots, a pause and a silence. This article discusses in detail the uneven distribution of pauses and silences in Harold Pinter’s 1977 play, Betrayal. It becomes evident that the use of different kinds of silence clearly indicates the emotional state of the characters at any given moment.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Jadwiga Uchman, University of Łódź

Jadwiga Uchman (Professor) is the head of the Department of Studies in Drama and Pre-1800 English Literature, University of Łódź. She specializes in modern English Drama, especially poetic drama, the Theatre of the Absurd, T. S. Eliot, Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard. She is the author of numerous articles and three books: The Problem of Time in the Plays of Samuel Beckett (Łódź, 1987), Reality, Illusion, Theatricality: A Study of Tom Stoppard (Łódź, 1998) and Playwrights and Directors: Samuel Beckett, Tom Stoppard and Harold Pinter (Łódź, 2011).

References

Berne, Eric. Games People Play. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968. Print.
Google Scholar

Billington, Michael. The Life and Work of Harold Pinter. London: Faber, 1996. Print.
Google Scholar

Brewer’s Theatre. A Phrase and Fable Dictionary. London: Cassell, 1994. Print.
Google Scholar

Esslin, Martin. The Peopled Wound: The Work of Harold Pinter. New York: Doubleday, 1970. Print.
Google Scholar

Fraser, Antonia. Must You Go? My Life with Harold Pinter. London: Weidenfeld, 2010. Print.
Google Scholar

Fraser, G. S. The Modern Writer and His World. London: Andre Deutsch, 1964. Print.
Google Scholar

Gale, Stephen H. Butter’s Going up. A Critical Analysis of Harold Pinter’s Work. Durham: Duke UP, 1977. Print.
Google Scholar

Hall, Peter. “Directing Pinter.” Harold Pinter: You Never Heard Such Silence. Ed. Alan Bold. London: Vision, 1985. 19–28. Print.
Google Scholar

Hall, Peter. “Directing the Plays of Harold Pinter.” The Cambridge Companion to Harold Pinter. Ed. Peter Raby. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001. 145–54. Print.
Google Scholar

Hayman, Ronald. Harold Pinter. London: Heinemann, 1968. Print.
Google Scholar

Hollis, James. Harold Pinter. The Poetics of Silence. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1970. Print.
Google Scholar

Merritt, Susan Hollis. Pinter in Play. Critical Strategies and the Plays of Harold Pinter. Durham: Duke UP, 1990. Print.
Google Scholar

Nightingale, Benedict. “Anti-Clockwise.” New Statesman 24 Nov. 1978: 717–18. Print.
Google Scholar

Norwall, Ove, ed. Lutosławski. Copenhagen: Wilhelm Hansen, 1968. Print.
Google Scholar

Pinter, Harold. “The Art of Theater No. 3.” Interview by Lawrence M. Bensky. The Paris Review 3 (Fall 1966): n. pag. Web. 5 Oct. 2014.
Google Scholar

Pinter, Harold. Betrayal. New York: Grove, 1978. Print.
Google Scholar

Pinter, Harold. “Nobel Lecture. Art, Truth & Politics.” Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2005. Web. 5 Oct. 2014.
Google Scholar

Pinter, Harold. “The Birthday Party.” Complete Works: One. New York: Grove, 1978. 17–97. Print.
Google Scholar

Pinter, Harold. “The Dumb Waiter.” Complete Works: One. New York: Grove, 1978. 127–65. Print.
Google Scholar

Pinter, Harold. “The Homecoming.” Complete Works: Three. New York: Grove, 1978. 19–98. Print.
Google Scholar

Pinter, Harold. “The Room.” Complete Works: One. New York: Grove, 1978. 99–126 Print.
Google Scholar

Pinter, Harold. “Writing for the Theatre.” Complete Works: One. New York: Grove, 1978. 9–16. Print.
Google Scholar

Smith, Ian, comp. Pinter in the Theatre. London: Hern, 2005. Print.
Google Scholar

Styan, J. L. The Elements of Drama. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1976. Print.
Google Scholar

Sykes, Alrene. Harold Pinter. St Lucia: U of Queensland P, 1970. Print.
Google Scholar

Taylor, John Russell. Anger and After. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963. Print.
Google Scholar

Wästberg, Per. “The Nobel Prize in Literature 2005 - Presentation Speech.” Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2005. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.
Google Scholar

Downloads

Published

2017-10-16

How to Cite

Uchman, J. (2017). Pinteresque Dialogue. Text Matters: A Journal of Literature, Theory and Culture, (7), 386–401. https://doi.org/10.1515/texmat-2017-0021